


A Man Named Jixton

by SkywalkerCrow



Series: Aphra and Vader [2]
Category: Star Wars (Marvel Comics)
Genre: Fusion of Star Wars Legends and Disney Canon, Gen, Implied Relationships, Past Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2019-12-05
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:14:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21622810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkywalkerCrow/pseuds/SkywalkerCrow
Summary: Sometimes Vader calls Aphra by the wrong name. Sometimes she pretends not to notice.
Relationships: Chelli Lona Aphra & Darth Vader
Series: Aphra and Vader [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1163663
Comments: 12
Kudos: 60





	1. Mistaken

**Author's Note:**

> The old eu and the new cannon combined. The timeline for this is off because Aphra and Jix were supposed to be Vader’s agent at the same time, but some things need to be changed in order for them to fit together 
> 
> Takes place in between the chapters of contracting actions. Can absolutely be read alone

It was just a regular day for Aphra, or about as average a day can get when someone was a secret agent of Darth Vader, when she heard the man himself slip on his own words. 

Triple-Zero had managed to get himself into minor trouble— that troubled being taking a blaster shot to the arm. It wasn’t anything Aphra couldn’t fix, and in the end it didn’t ruin the mission by any means. The droid himself simply appeared to be quite fussy over the whole thing for someone who couldn't even feel the injury. 

“Mistress, I _do_ insist you you have an unobstructed view while working on me.” The silver plated droid said to her. “It is quite _delicate work.”_

Eventually Aphra did comply, but only to stop his complaining. She pulled the hair that had been occasionally getting into her face into a low ponytail at the back of her head and continued on her work.

The protocol droid did have such delicate work in him. Poisons and drugs were hidden neatly away behind the metal plating of his arm— or what had once been the plating of his arm— because the whole thing was scored and charred as of now, the blaster hit had broken a few vials of what Aphra assumed was poison, and fried several wires on top of the general damage it did. Right now Triple-Zero couldn't move anything below the elbow. 

Of course it wasn’t something that was un-fixable. Not to Aphra anyways. 

About halfway through making it so at the very least the droid would be able to move the arm, Aphra heard the telltale sound of Vader’s approach. That mechanical breathing and heavy footsteps was hard to miss.

Aphra looked up from the work she was doing to see what he wanted— if he even wanted anything at all. 

He could be passing by this compartment of her ship to do whatever it was Darth Vader did while they traveled in hyperspace. 

Vader must have wanted something from her, because he did stop in the room she was working in.

“Jix—“ Vader began to say, light in tone for him— then for some unknown reason stopped for a moment. Then said with more harshness than what was necessary. _“Doctor Aphra.”_

“Boss?” Aphra questioned at the mention of her name along with some unformed sentence. 

Darth Vader stood there motionless in silence— save for his breathing— staring at her for what was far longer than comfortable. 

”Why is your hair up?” He finally asked. 

“Cause it was in the way?” 

That was a strange question.

Vader had never been bothered by her lack of uniform before. In fact she was pretty sure people with long hair in the Empire were _supposed_ to have their hair up. Not that she exactly cared for imperial protocol.

“Repair Triple-Zero’s arm. He will be needed for later.” Vader said, moving on from whatever he had been about to say previously.

 _But she was already doing that—_ as he could clearly see. 

“Sure thing boss.” 

_Weird_. Aphra thought, then thought nothing more about it. There were plenty of other strange mysterious things Vader did to think about instead. 

It was not until more moments like this that Aphra saw it as something significant.

* * *

Darth Vader looked scuffed. 

That was about as bad as Aphra ever seen him look as a whole, despite all the trouble she’s seen him get in. 

Although she figured taking a tumble one hundred feet into a rocky ravine tended to do that to people. Lesser people would be dead. Then again lesser people didn’t tend to wear over thirty pounds of armor and a padded leather bodysuit. 

“You good there boss? Looking kinda rough over there.” Aphra asked him, less of genuine concern and more of curiosity.

It would not be the first time Aphra had ever taken a look at an injury of his— although this time she assumed it would be much less awkward, and would have a few less revelations she wished she could un-know. 

“I am fine.” He replied.

“Sure, guess all those hits you took were just surface deep then.”

“Do not play that game with me Jixton. If you want—“ Vader stopped his sentence midway. “... If you want to get to know me better perhaps you should do your job at an _efficient rate.”_

“Course boss.” She replied— and very much did not miss how the tone of his sentence changed completely from something more akin to teasing to something more _stern_ as soon as he realized who he was really talking to. 

She was almost jealous of whoever this Jixton was if he could get that tone from Vader after provoking him about his armor. _Almost_ — Aphra has had her fair share of interesting times— for lack of a better word— with Vader for more than one lifetime. 

_What was Vader going to originally say?_ She wondered. _Who exactly was Jixton?_

Of course Aphra was not going to point out he had called her by the wrong name. She valued her life, even if at times she was a bit too loud mouthed and careless near him. She was pretty sure pointing out his mistake of words would get her hurt somehow— or at the very least test his very limited patience he was already running thin on with her. 

Whoever it was had probably just been another imperial, she figured. 

On occasion people just got confused— she supposed that it could happen to Vader too— even if it was weird to think of someone like him doing that. It however would not be the first time she’s seen something _real_ about him— Something that was more than that black armor and red saber. 

* * *

Sometimes, Aphra when a little bit too far with her words.

Most of the time she knew she was testing his patience— how many borderline insulting informalities he would allow, and how her status as his personal secret agent with a bit of a _rebellious_ task gave her a lot more wiggle room for getting away with unprecedented behavior in his presence than most people were afforded. 

Making passes as a Jedi— having a collection of illegal information and rebel propaganda, calling him _Boss_ instead of any actual title he held and pretending she did not know what his titles were— apparently those were all things she was allowed to get away with without consequence.

Apparently making comments about Darth Vader himself was not allowed, as she very quickly found out.

It was not anything too bad, at least in Aphra’s opinion it wasn’t that bad. 

“Attend to me.” Vader had said storming through the entrance to her ship without so much as a greeting— not that he ever bothered to give her a greeting more than simply stating her title and name.

She had absolutely no idea what he wanted from her this time. But certainly he looked angry, even if she couldn’t see what he looked like. 

_“Attend_ you?” Aphra questioned his particular choice of words. “I didn’t think you hired me for _that kind_ of work boss.”

In a fraction of a second Aphra felt her throat close in on her, and her feet lift from the floor. As it turned out, floating was a lot less fun then she imagined it would be.

Vader had not even bothered to turn around to kill her. 

_Oh kriff no._ Aphra thought. _The plan wasn’t for her to die this way._ She was supposed to be thrown out an airlock, as she so often said she did not want— not this— there was no clever way out of the mysterious grip of the force that was quite literally slowly choking the life out of her moment by moment. 

“Jixton you have—“ Vader began to say and turned to face her. Then she was dropped to the ground in an instant—- her legs crumpling under her as she came into contact with the floor— and he lowered his hand that had been raised in a clenched first. “... been getting on my nerves recently. See to it that you… keep your mouth in check.”

 _That name again._ Aphra thought gasping at the air— feeling lucky to even be alive. 

“Right boss— better— _better_ than being thrown out an airlock, I guess.” She said, her throat felt hoarse and sore— sounded like it too. 

Apparently this Jixton had it worse than she did. 

Darth Vader never force choked her for all he threatened her. As soon as he realized she was not Jixton he had dropped her. Not that someone could exactly un-force choke someone, but it made her feel _something_ not quite definable that the force choke was not intended for her. 

That mistake of names on his part had been a bit interesting before, now it was _dangerous._

_First time was a mistake, the second time was a coincidence— a third time?_

Aphra would have to watch herself, somehow. She had no idea what was triggering this mistaken identity situation to begin with.

Apparently that Jixton has gotten quite the mixed reaction from Vader as opposed to usual vague anger she always had directed at her. She was deeply interested in this Jixton now in a mix of self preservation and genuine curiosity. 

"I have new information for you." Vader said. _"Important_ information pertaining to your main objective."

"Right."


	2. Theory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aphra has a few theories.

Doctor Aphra decided to do her own research. Although she only had a first name to go on. It was not a great deal of information, but it was something.

She had also made a few inferences about the mystery person. 

Under the assumption this Jixton was an imperial, she looked up the name on the official public imperial database— it was possible the man used to be one of Vader many, _many_ Captains and Admirals— with how Vader tended to kill them off recently, it would not come as a surprise to hear that he was among one of the victims of Vader’s anger. 

The name brought a decent list of people— most of them dead or missing. 

Aphra didn’t even know if this Jixton was alive or not, so she couldn’t exactly narrow the list down any more. She didn’t even know their species or gender for that matter.

Far more of her time than she would have liked was spent searching through the public files of everyone with that name one by one until _something_ caught her eye— something out of place is what ended up getting her full attention. 

_Wrenga Jixton._

A human who had been courtvmartialed for something not listed. It must be classified— even if the public files _said_ nothing here was classified— it wouldn’t exactly be the first time the Empire lied to its citizens about something.

Next she searched in the much less public files, courtesy of one Lord Vader. 

Being an agent of his had a few perks. 

Unfortunately absolutely nothing was there either. The reason why he was court marshalled was simply not listed. Which was odd. She could not find what it was he had been cast out from the Empire’s ranks for all she searched, even with Vader’s access codes and a connection to imperial databanks. 

More than anything it made Aphra more interested in him, and more positive this was the Jixton Vader had repeatedly mistaken her for. 

The official holo of him looked like he was in his early thirties— long dark hair tied nearly up in the back of his head, and brown eyes— the green imperial uniform appearing misplaced on a man of his physique. _Former stormtrooper._ He had a few minor cases of misconduct, all of them resulting from his apparently big mouth. 

_A man after her own heart._ She sarcastically thought. Besides the whole _imperial_ and _man_ thing that is. 

This Jixton had been dead for a few years now. Unknown cause. If this was him that could be the reason the two of them have never met. Or his death was faked and Darth Vader simply did not like the idea of the two meeting for whatever reason. 

Aphra could not find a connection between him and Vader even with unrestricted access to the imperial databanks. He had never been assigned to any ship Vader had been assigned to— he had never been on any of the same missions. 

It was still possible she had the wrong person. 

But it _felt_ like this was them.

The fact that there was something missing in his files was clue enough that there was more to him than just another imperial with more of a mouth then he was supposed to have. 

Unfortunately though, it appeared she had met a dead end. 

Aphra continued to look through the names of other imperials with the name Jixton. Just in case. 

None of them however, provided that certain mystery and interest Wrenga Jixton had. 

* * *

It was a month before Aphra heard the name Jixton again. 

Despite the danger those moments could potentially carry, she had actually been looking forward to the snippets of information that came from them. 

Aphra could always _ask_ Vader about it, but there wasn’t exactly any fun in that.

He also was not really the type of man to just give information like that out to people. She still had no idea why he did certain things that to others would appear as rebellious or anti-Empire, even if he blatantly told her he _did_ indeed do them. More often than not she had to put the puzzle pieces together herself to figure out anything about him with the small fractions of his opinions he gave her.

It had been another one of his vaguely angry giving of new orders when she heard that name, then as a dismissal, he said: 

“I will be in my private chambers on Mustafar. And this time Jix, do not interrupt my—“ Vader started, then abruptly stopped mid sentence for a few seconds longer than what was comfortable. 

_Interrupt his what?_ Aphra frantically thought. 

Such unfortunate timing for Aphra, for Vader to realize his mistake just as he was getting to the _really good_ part. 

“Do not _call_ me unless it is an emergency.” He choose to end— or tried to fix his previous sentence by saying. 

Although it fixed absolutely nothing at all, and pointed out his glaring mistake more than anything else. Vader did not bother to try to correct calling her by the wrong name. He never did.

“Uh—don’t worry boss I’m not gonna go there.” She responded, then added. “I’ll call you.”

Mustafar was a place she _was_ curious about, but wasn’t willing to risk her life to know more of— that wasn’t exactly important right now. 

What was important was that thing she was trying to put together. 

_Who was Jixton to just visit Vader in his residence?_ Or— a different part of Aphra thought— _Who was he to Vader for the dark lord himself to invite the man over to his residence, in his private chambers of all places? Did Vader mean bedroom by that, or something similar?_

Interrupting Darth Vader doing anything was a one way ticket to a death sentence Aphra had thought. 

For Vader to have to tell someone not to do it because presumably they had done so many times before was _certainly_ something. And for that something to be interrupting a _private_ _place—_ whatever that meant— was a lot. 

“Good.” Vader shortly stated, then left for his own ship.

She wondered if _he knew_ that _she knew_ he was called her by the wrong name sometimes. Probably not— Aphra tended to voice things when she figured them out— at least— she tried to make it appear that way. Vader might have caught onto that act by now. 

What mattered most to Aphra right now was that she had a brand new idea about this mysterious Jixton.

 _Affair_. 

* * *

There were a few theories Doctor Aphra had on who this Jixton was to Darth Vader. 

He could have simply been another imperial Vader knew— although Aphra _doubted_ that at this point in time. 

He could have been or currently be a secret agent like her, and that’s why a large chunk of his information was simply missing— Vader would have probably had his information deleted as to make sure there’s no connection to him. The most probable theory. 

He could have— and this once was the most entertaining of all— had an affair with Vader. Certainly if that information made its way to the holos absolutely chaos would erupt in the best way. Unlikely, but there really was something _more_ to the two of them then agent and boss, although that one was the most likely scenario. Maybe Vader simply did not like Aphra— But he had let her know quite a bit about him. 

It could also be a combination of them. 

Simply another imperial that Vader got a bit too close too and was cast out from the Empire and killed because of it. The Emperor— from what little she knew of him and Vader— would be the type of person and have the power to get rid of anything Vader got involved in that he didn’t like. 

An agent Vader picked up out of the stormtrooper ranks and court marshalled so no one would look into his disappearance from the Empire also sounded quite plausible. 

Or he was an agent who had perhaps gotten a _little bit_ too close too Vader. 

Perhaps if she read over his file again something else would come to her that she had missed before. 

After all, she never looked into his family connections, there could be a clue of some sort there. If given the opportunity, maybe she could even pay one of them a little visit.

Triple-Zero _not included._

* * *

“ _Doctor Aphra._ ” Vader stated to her as she lounged around her own ship. “I see you have started meddling in the business of others.”

He sounded angry, not that he never sounded not angry, but this time he was angry at her. 

“Uh— That’s my job boss?” She said a bit confused. 

And this time Aphra actually had no idea what he was angry about. It was quite literally her job to go meddling in other people’s business. He had her interrogate a mortician then kill him for kirffs sake, just because he happened to bury a certain person who happened to have some certain kid. 

“I can see the things you search for using my access codes, _Doctor_.” He somehow always managed to make using her title feel like a threat.

Despite that, her thoughts were not of her crossing some invisible line and angering him. It was that she had gotten it _right_. The Jixton Vader mentioned has been _Wrenga Jixton,_ the former stormtrooper with the missing information and a big mouth. 

“Was I not… supposed to?”

 _“Do not_ do it again.” Vader pointed a finger at her. “All that matters to you are the missions I assign. I gave you access to help with your assignments, not to satisfy your own currioites.”

“Got it boss.”

Apparently using the encrypted imperial databanks would get her a slap on the wrist. _Good to know._ At least, this time. 

Vader appeared to be quite defensive over the man.

And that was strange, seeing as she knew about the whole Darth Vader building a small army to try and take down the Emperor thing— amongst other _personal details_ about him. Ones that even she wasn’t quite willing to give up for his own sake. As wild as that sounded.

What could one more secret possibly do? 

Aphra was quite positive the information that _Darth kriffing Vader,_ the unofficial second in command of the Empire, was planning on killing the Emperor, was as big and important as information got. That was at the very least enough to shake the Empire to its core and leave an impact that couldn’t be easily recovered from.

 _Who was Jixton, really?_ For Vader to decide, _this_ is where the line gets drawn.

* * *

There were times when Vader spoke to Aphra like she was someone else, even if he did not explicitly say the name _Jixton_. Before she never caught onto it. But there was a certain pause and gait he had about him whenever he did it that she was able to recognize now. 

His voice had a certain tone less serious then she was used too, and he used certain words he never used near her. 

_“If you would like, come with me and—“_

_“I’m sure you remember my fondness of—“_

_“Since when did you stop breaking into—“_

And it is not just _Jixton_ Vader called that person by that he’s accidentally called her by— the more informal _Jix_ was less frequent but still used. 

Aphra did not have a more informal name.

Vader on a good day would call her _Aphra_ , on the worst days simply _Doctor—_ although it could be because Aphra couldn’t be shorted to anything else, and she never told him her first name. Not that Vader did not know her first name— she didn’t have to tell it to him for him to know. He simply never ever used it. 

Still, she felt like there was something _more_ between them than the possibility of him being a previous secret agent.

It _was_ the most likely and realistic scenario, it explained why he called her that— because perhaps the two of them were the only agents he ever had— but Aphra was never afforded that same tone he gave Jixton.

Vader did apparently try to choke the life out of him though. Aphra always somehow forgot that last part, despite having been on the end of that action on one occasion.

Jixton was possibly an agent who was afforded more wiggle room, and fondness from Vader than Aphra herself was given— and yet he had been _hurt_ by Vader frequently enough for the man to not think about hurting her in a moment of mistaken identity— that was a bit confusing. 

Although, it would not be the first time there was something contradicting about him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> probably the fastest fanfiction I’ve ever written. Believe it or not I’ve had another fic in this series in the works for like a year now. But for some reason this one came into my head then came directly out of it and the other is just stuck and going nowhere besides a sentence or two every month


	3. Wild Apathy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aphra learns who Jixton used to be

Darth Vader was in one of his _moods_ again.

Not his dangerous boiling angry or the cold sulking ones, but that wild apathy— dangerous to her and to himself. 

Aphra never knew why Vader got into these types of moods, the last time her only idea as to why had been, _he lied to me—_ those words Vader had said out loud to himself that she happened to overhear— whatever they had meant, she still did not know. And likely never would know. All she knew was that it was not a great mood for Vader to be in, it also wasn’t great Vader kept deciding _her ship_ was the best place to have these kinds of things. 

Maybe it was just bad luck on her part. 

She could hear the leather of his gloves when he tightened his hands into fists, and she hoped that at least this time one of them would not be going through her ship’s wall. _Really_ , Aphra didn’t know how she would handle one of those types of situations again. 

At least Triple-Zero has enough sense to stay hidden whenever Vader appeared to be anything but static. 

“Boss?” She cautiously questioned him. 

He had not greeted her— he had not acknowledged her presence before he stormed his way onto her ship in what was supposed to be a regular short meeting between the two. 

“What is it?” He asked and stopped his pacing directly in front of her— although it sounded more like a demand than anything else. 

“Something twist its way into your cape there?” She half joked, and went to put a hand on the black fabric that overlays his armor. 

Aphra was never good with serious things, even when her life was threatened. That tended to happen to people when instead of _flight of fight_ they got _giggle_ for some reason. Although she supposed it was a much better nervous tick than getting angry. 

“Jix don't—“ Vader said— quickly Aphra snached her hand back. She had no interest in losing a limb. Then he _actually_ corrected himself for once, and said. “Aphra, do not touch me.”

“I uh— totally wasn’t going to boss.”

“Why do you call me boss?” He asked. Vader did not exactly sound angry, but he did sound demanding. “Simply because you _can_?”

“No it’s cause…” She trailed off, looking away from him. 

But really it was simply because she _could_. And apparently Vader must have figured that out. She hoped he wasn’t too upset at that fact, although anything could set him off— or anything could happen when he was acting like this. 

“Jixton said the same thing.”

At that her eyes widened. This was the first time he was actually telling her about him. 

In these _moods_ Vader tended to say a lot more than usual if his last one was anything to go by. It probably wasn’t exactly a noble thing to do— not that Aphra ever was noble in any sense— but she could probably actually learn something about the mysterious Jixton right now if she used this thing or his to her own advantage. Vader probably didn’t care enough either way to get too mad at her asking, _hopefully_. 

“Who... who was Jixton really?” She cautiously asked, testing her luck and how far she could push him. 

“What would it matter?” Vader replied.

_Of course he would say that._ Aphra thought. _Well certainly he mattered to Vader ‘cause the guy can’t get him out of his mind, subconsciously or otherwise or whatever._

Mostly it mattered to Aphra because she was curious— anyone world be curious about the person they kept accidentally being called the wrong name by she was pretty sure. And the fact that he was Darth Vader and any information about him would be worth something even if that something was occasionally just to see what the answer is. 

“I guess it matters to me, that’s all.” She answered. 

Perhaps Aphra had said the right words for once, because Vader turned away from her before speaking again. 

“You were not the first agent I had.” He said, confirming one of Aphra’s theories. “He would always irritate me. Use the codes I gave him for emergency _only,_ simply to visit me at the most _inopportune_ times. He was far too full of himself, and never bothered to follow any sort of formality.” 

That man somehow sounded more reckless than she was. If Vader had killed him she would not be surprised in the slightest. 

“Gee, he sounds great.” Sarcastically Aphra replied. 

“Do not insult him.” Vader stated turning to look at her for a moment, then went back to half facing away.

For some reason Vader defended the man he _himself_ described in only negative terms. She supposed that was just Vader. He probably didn’t even say good things about people he actually liked. 

“Then well, what happened to him— seeing as I’m here?” She asked. 

“I did not kill him.” Vader answered. Then he added, in a slightly quieter voice. “But I might as well have.” 

_So Jixton was dead._ She supposed that was why she was here after all. Perhaps she had been more of a replacement than anything else. That would however mean Vader had been going behind the Empire's back for quite some time. The Empire really was a mess. 

_Yeah_ , Aphra thought with a vague sense of worry, _Vader’s definitely going to try to kill her one day._ Nothing personal, _probably_ , she just knew too much. 

“So... how’s a guy like you and a guy like him meet?” 

There was the assumption she had, that Vader had tracked him down for his particular set of skills, but his file had not exactly screamed _specialist_ in a certain subject as she assumed hers did. Nothing about him exactly said exemplary or talented either. 

“He found me.” Vader stated, a circumstance Aphra had not quite imagined occurring. “If it were not for him... I would have died. In return for not killing all the locals on his planet, he offered his permanent servitude to me.”

Saving Darth Vader’s life was certainly a story. If it wasn’t coming from the man himself she wouldn’t believe it. Although that last part about murdering all the locks unless he gave him his servitude did sound a lot like Vader. 

“Romantic.” 

“Do not _insult him._ ” Vader repeated— much sterner this time. 

_Defensive for someone you probably choked a lot_. Aphra thought. Not that she had intended that to be an insult. Maybe this was just a part of his weird mood— Or he really was just not a fan of even talking about things like that. He had gotten weird too, when she had made a casual pass at that Jedi to try and lighten the mood. Perhaps it had not been about that guy being a Jedi at all. 

“Sorry boss.” She said, not exactly sorry at all.

“I can sense when you lie to me.” He responded. Then he added. “Jixton had his… merits. His dedication was more than I could ever ask for, and he completed his tasks nearly perfectly. If he had remained an imperial I would have liked to see him as a commander. Although I could never quite get him to wear something… appropriate

Aphra furrowed her brows in confusion at that.

“What is inappropriate clothes?” She asked, because _Force_ she was genuinely curious to know what— one, Vader considered inappropriate— and two, how someone would wear said thing in front of Vader willingly and repeatedly. 

Wordlessly Vader reached for something on his belt and for a moment Aphra thought it was his lightsaber— but it was not, instead he took out a comlink and in silence appeared to rummage through it for a bit before being up this holo.

It looked like Jixton, but he was older by a few years, and dressed _much_ differently than that crisp imperial uniform she had seen on his official file. 

The man apparently was not a fan of shirts, because he wore a vest instead of one. He also had his long hair tied back in a loose ponytail and goggles pushed high on his forehead. Looking much more like an outer rim smuggler than an imperial. 

He _almost_ looked like her.

Maybe Vader picking up two agents that looked the same and acted the same was a coincidence— Long brown hair and eyes wasn’t exactly uncommon— maybe it wasn’t a coincidence. Even if it wasn’t, Aphra did not know what it meant. 

But— _why did Vader have a holo of him on him?_ Aphra thought. That was a weird thing to do or at least it wasn’t something normal people did with their dead secret agents. It would be weird if Vader had a holo of her on him somewhere. 

“Looks like you got a type boss.” She said, forgetting the first two times she had been lightly reprimanded for saying such things. 

“Jixton had the same type of _distaste_ for imperial titles.” Vader said to that— ignoring her quip this time.

“He called you boss too?”

“Not quite. He had preferred something… far less _formal_ to my distaste.”

“...Like what?”

Vader paused for a few seconds, probably deciding if he wanted to tell her or not. It must be one hell of a nickname if Vader was hesitant to tell her what it was. Or maybe it was somehow personal to him— or maybe it was just really embarrassing. Although if Vader had hated it too much he defiantly would have made that very, _very_ clear. Aphra did think that the guy was probably force choked quite a bit, so that last one might just be true. 

“He often preferred to call me… Uncle Dee.” He answered her. 

Aphra has seen a lot in her life. That, was truly _blindsiding_. If she was to make a list of things people could possibly ever call Darth Vader, this would not be on the list. 

Maybe the reason Vader had a holo of him was because Vader was his uncle— and certainly that would make all the things Aphra had previously said and thought about the two of them really, _really_ bad. Based on the whole how they met story however, Aphra doubted they were actually related. But for some reason her mind rejected the idea of Vader having any relatives at all. Even if she knew he was very much a living being, and at least at one point in time that _had_ to be true for him to have been born in the first place. It was a strange thing for Vader to have. 

“Sounds like a real charmer.” She responded.

Calling someone _Uncle_ that was not you’re uncle was probably as far away from charming as you could get. At least _Boss_ had a nice sound and an actual meaning. 

“I assume if I had to deal with the two at you at the same time it would be the death of me.” Vader stated. 

It was almost a joke. Aphra smiled at that. 

The two of them would probably not get along too well— similar personalities clashing and all that. They would probably kill each other before they killed Vader.

Then Aphra had a fun idea, at least she hoped it would be fun. 

“Well geez Uncle Dee I always thought you’d be the death of me not the other way around.” 

“You _do not_ get to call me that.”

It was not a fun idea, apparently. 

“Right boss.”

Perhaps there was something to Jixton and Vader that Aphra and he simply did not have and never would have despite everything they’ve done together, and the parts of Vader she had seen that she’s pretty sure no one else ever has. 

It’s not as if it mattered in the end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jixton is missing some information because of the Black Sun, Vader doesn't know what info he’s missing but he had never asked Jix about it 

**Author's Note:**

> When Aphra was first introduced I immediately saw her as a new jixton, but like, written better


End file.
